INVESTS IN REAL ESTATE—ACQUIRES A HOME—VICARIOUS WORK IN LOGAN TEMPLE—CONSEQUENT ELATION—PROMISE TO A DYING FRIEND—GRATUITOUS FULFILLMENT IN MANTI TEMPLE.

In the course of a few years he found an opportunity of buying a small city lot north west of the capital grounds, with a rather old house upon it, for the modest sum which his capital represented, and he actually became a landlord. He rented part of it to the former owner, who had lost the property through mortgaging it and being unable to meet the payments when his notes fell due. His income from the rental was only $5.00 per month, and it required half of that to pay the taxes upon the property; but he had a shelter for himself as well—not very comfortable it was true, but much more so than some of the houses he had occupied—and it was his own. It was all the more appreciated when he thought of the improbability of his ever owning a home of any kind had he remained in his native land. He could now look forward with more hope to his declining years, when age would naturally add to his decrepitude.

When Niels accepted of the Gospel in his native land, no feature of it was more attractive to him than the promise of salvation for the dead contained therein. He found comfort in the assurance he obtained of personal salvation through compliance with the Gospel principles, and he was anxious to do something if possible that his ancestors and friends who had died without a knowledge of the Gospel should share in the Gospel privileges. When the Temple in Logan was completed and opened for ordinance work, he joyfully journeyed thither and spent eight weeks in receiving ordinances for the benefit of dead relatives. He felt that he was coming into his own, that he was accomplishing something that made life desirable. There was something exalting about the thought that he, deformed and weak and frail though he was, could do all for the salvation of his dead kindred and friends that the most able-bodied man in the community could do. He had long admired the missionaries who left their homes in Utah and the surrounding states, and, at infinite sacrifice, went forth into the

various nations of the earth to proclaim the Gospel message, without hope of earthly reward. The sole reason for their doing so was that they had been called by those whom they regarded as the Lord's earthly representatives to so labor, and because they regarded the Gospel as so priceless that they were anxious to have its benefits extended to all humanity. He, too, appreciated the Gospel, and his love for his fellows would have enabled him to find joy in laboring as a missionary, but, alas! he could never hope to engage in that labor because of his physical disabilities. But here was a labor which had for its object the same purpose, in which in point of ability he measured up to the full stature of the best of his fellows; and who should say that the work done in behalf of the dead is not just as important as that done for the living? He had never engaged in anything that so increased his self respect and made him feel that he was of some consequence in the world as this work in the Temple, and he regretted when necessity compelled him to abandon this labor which had such a savor of heaven about it and "come down to earth," figuratively speaking, by seeking such employment as he could engage in to earn the meagre necessaries of his subsistence.

Plate as described below

Niels and his home

A considerable period passed afterward with little to relieve the monotony of his existence, during which, however, he again succeeded in accumulating something. In the meantime the Temple at Manti had been completed and ordinance work was being performed therein.

It happened that an old gentleman named Nielsen with whom Niels had years before, (while he was a resident of Salt Lake City,) been somewhat acquainted, had located at Manti while the Temple was in course of construction, and indulged in the hope of spending his declining years in laboring therein for the benefit of his dead kindred. Before being able or ready so to do, however, he had been stricken with sickness, and, at the solicitation of a daughter who was living in Salt Lake City, and who was the wife of a Catholic, had come up to reside with her and be nursed back to health. Instead of recovering, however, he continued to grow worse until his life was despaired of. During his illness he worried constantly over the fact that the work in the Temple which his heart had been so set upon performing for his dead kindred had never been done, and there now seemed no hope of his doing it, for he felt that he must soon die. In his emergency he thought about Niels as a friend whose services he might enlist, and induced his daughter to send for him to come and listen to her father's dying request. Niels came, and found his old friend almost in the throes of death. Being asked if he would do the work in the Temple which his friend had neglected, he consented without hesitancy, to pacify the dying man, and wrote down at his dictation the names of about seventy of his dead relatives, in whose behalf he wished the work performed. He was told that a certain sister living in Manti had promised to perform the work for the females, and could be relied upon to do so, and that it would only be necessary for him to see that she did it, and to do himself the work for the males.

After receiving the promise from Niels that he would attend to the matter, the old gentleman seemed satisfied, and soon died in peace. Niels then realized, as he had not done before, the responsibility that rested upon him, in consequence of his promise. He had never made a promise even to a person who was well without faithfully fulfilling it, and his promise made to a dying man seemed doubly binding. He must fulfill that if he never lived to do anything else. With this impressed upon his mind he soon journeyed to Manti and called upon the sister who had promised his dead friend to serve in the Temple for the female relatives. He found her so ill that there was little hope of her ever being able to keep her promise, and so he conscientiously applied himself to the task of fulfilling completely the commission assigned him. He hired sisters to do the work for the female dead, and he spent ten weeks in the Manti Temple, in constant labor for the male dead kindred of his friend Nielsen, and felt satisfaction in having done all that duty and honor could require of him in the matter.